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NavSource Online: Battleship Photo Archive

USS CATSKILL

Passaic Class Monitor: Displacement: 1,875 tons. Dimensions: 200 x 46 x 10.5 feet/60.96 x 14.01 x 3.2 meters. Propulsion: Ericsson VL engines, 2 boilers, 320 hp, 1 shaft, 4-5 knots. Crew: 75. Armor: Iron: 3-5 inch sides, 1 inch deck, 11 inch turret. Armament: 1 dual turret with 1x15 inch Dahlgren smoothbore, 1x11 inch Dahlgren smoothbore.

Operational and Building Data: Contracted to John Ericsson; construction subcontracted to Continental Iron Works, Greenpoint, NY. Launched 6 December 1862, outfitted at New York Navy Yard, commissioned 24 February 1863. Served exclusively in operations around Charleston. Decommissioned to reserve 26 July 1865. Renamed Goliath 15 June 1869, then Catskill 10 August 1869. Repaired and prepared for service at New York Navy Yard 1874-1875; recommissioned late 1875 or early 1876. Decommissioned to reserve late 1877 or early 1878. Recommissioned for Spanish American War service 26 April 1898; decommissioned 22 September 1898.
Fate: Sold for scrapping 4 December 1901.
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For Full Size		 Size Image Description Source
Passaic 39k Plan of turret for Passaic class monitors. The port stoppers can be seen clearly in this drawing. Photo courtesy of "Monitors of the U.S. Navy, 1861-1937", pg 11, by Lt. Richard H. Webber, USNR-R. (LOC) Library of Congress, Catalog Card No. 77-603596.
Passaic 61k Propeller and rudder arrangement of the Passaic class. Photo courtesy of "Monitors of the U.S. Navy, 1861-1937", pg 13, by Lt. Richard H. Webber, USNR-R. (LOC) Library of Congress, Catalog Card No. 77-603596.
U.S. Navy Warships, 1862. 724k Line engraving published in Harper's Weekly, 1862, depicting several contemporary U.S. Navy ironclad and conventional warships. They are (from left to right: Puritan (in the original twin-turret design); Catskill; Montauk; Keokuk (citing her original name, "Woodna"); Passaic; Galena (behind Roanoke, with name not cited); Roanoke; Winona; New Ironsides; Naugatuck; Brooklyn and Monitor. Photo # NH 58752, now in the collections of the National Archives & National Museum of the U.S. Navy via flickr.com.
Passaic 107k "Panoramic View of Charleston Harbor. -- Advance of Ironclads to the Attack, 7 April, 1863" Line engraving published in "The Soldier in our Civil War", Volume II, page 172, with a key to individual ships and land features shown. U.S. Navy ships present are (from left to center): Keokuk, Nahant, Nantucket, Catskill, New Ironsides, Patapsco, Montauk, Passaic and Weehawken. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 59269.
CATSKILL 106k The Ironclad Catskill sinking a blockade runner under Sumter's guns, 19 July 1863. Photo courtesy of Tommy Trampp.
CATSKILL 40k Catskill, a single-turreted monitor, was launched 16 December 1862 by Continental Iron Works, Greenpoint, N.Y.; outfitted at New York Navy Yard; commissioned 24 February 1863, Commander George Washington Rodgers in command; and reported to the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. Catskill reported for duty at Port Royal, S.C., on 5 March 1863, and for the remainder of the war operated intensively on the blockade off Charleston, S.C. In the lengthy series of operations against the strongly fortified and stoutly defended harbor, Catskill repeatedly took part in attacks on the batteries and forts protecting Charleston from the sea. She also cruised on picket duty, guarding other ships of the squadron from the determined and ingenious attacks launched against them, and patrolling constantly against blockade runners. Catskill's commanding officer, Commander George Washington Rodgers, was killed in action 17 August 1863, while directing the fire of his ship against Charleston's forts. Text courtesy of wikipedia.org.
Photo courtesy of Bill Gonyo.
Ironclads in Action
nantucket1e		 648k Ironclads in Action
Sketch of Charleston Harbor, showing placement of US Navy Ironclads during the attack in April 1863 (from top to bottom):
Keokuk,
Weehawken,
Passaic,
Montauk,
Patapsco,
Catskill,
Nantucket &
Nahant. 		Photo courtesy of Tommy Trampp.
CATSKILL 122k Catskill's commanding officer, Cdr. George W. Rodgers, was killed in action on 17 August, while directing the fire of his ship against Charleston's forts. The ship was hit by Confederate gunfire on several occasions, but skillful work by her crew — now under the command of Lieutenant Commander Edward Barrett — returned her to action without returning for repairs. Catskill destroyed the grounded blockade runner Prince Albert off Fort Moultrie on 9 August 1864. When Charleston was evacuated on 18 February 1865, she boarded and took possession of the grounded blockade runner, Deer, and later in that day raised the flag over another grounded steamer, Celt. Text courtesy of wikipedia.org.
Photo courtesy of Bill Gonyo.
CATSKILL 112k Lieutenant Commander Edward Barrett, USN (left), Commanding Officer of Catskill, and Lieutenant Cornelius M. Schoonmaker, USN, one of Catskill's officers pose on a field gun, holding their swords, while visiting Battery "Bee" on Sullivan's Island, Charleston harbor, South Carolina, in 1865. Photographed by the Matthew Brady organization. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # LC-B8171-3415.
CATSKILL 100k Catskill's officers posing on deck and atop the turret, while the ship was in Charleston harbor, South Carolina, in 1865. The Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Edward Barrett, is seated on the turret, in center. Note awning spread over the turret and conning tower, ship's bell mounted on the turret side, marks from Confederate shot hits on the turret armor, and additional armor plate laid on the deck. Guns on field carriages are 12-pounder Dahlgren howitzers. Turret gun to the right is a XI-inch Dahlgren smoothbore. The other turret gun is a XV-inch Dahlgren smoothbore. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 61925.
Monitors 607k Monitors in ordinary at League Island Navy Yard: Nahant, Lehigh, Canonicus, Manhattan, Jason [ex-Sangamon],Catskill, Montauk, Mahopac & Ajax circa 1890 - 1901, but most likely taken in 1898. Insert Image and text provided by University of California, Riverside.
Photo courtesy of The Herald. (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 22 April 1898, Image 10, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
Photo LC-D401-21287 courtesy of loc.gov.
CATSKILL 352k Port side view of the Catskill as recommissioned for Spanish American War service, 26 April 1898. Courtesy of Robert Hurst.
Monitors677kOUR NAVY AS IT IS TODAY
1. Monadnock (BM-3) . 2. Petrel. 3. Puritan (BM-1) . 4. Concord. 5. Wilmington. 6. Amphitrite (BM-2) . 7. Ajax. 8. Machias. 9. Cincinnati. 10. Marblehead. 1 1. Montgomery. 12. Minneapolis. 13. Kearsarge (BB-5). 14. Kentucky (BB-6). 15. Bancroft. 16. Dolphin. 17. Vesuvius. 18. Raleigh. 19. Indiana (BB-1). 20. Iowa (BB-4). 21. Olympia. 22. Terror (M-4). 23. Catskill . 24. Miantonomah (BM-5). 25. Gustine. 26. Yorktown. 27. Texas. 28. Helena. 29. Massachusetts (BB-2). 30. Columbia. 31. New Orleans, 32. San Francisco. 33. Canonicus . 34. Camanche . 35. Monterey (BM-6). 36. Brooklyn. 37. Detroit 38. Atlanta. 39. Alabama (BB-8). 40. Albany. 41. Baltimore. 42. Chicago. 43. Newark, 44. Boston. 45. Charleston. 46. Oregon (BB-3). 47. New York. 48. Manhattan. 49. Philadelphia. 50. Lehigh. And Torpedo Boats. Drawn by "W. A. Verhas.		Image and text provided by University of Tennessee.
Photo by The Maryville Times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 28 May 1898, Image 3, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
CATSKILL 100k View of the Catskill's propeller well, with cover removed, photographed by N.L. Stebbins, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1898. Note tiller at left, with rudder chains running across the deck. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 55205.
CATSKILL 127k View of the Catskill's anchor well, with its cover removed, photographed by N.L. Stebbins, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1898. Note anchor chain running out of hause hole and around a roller inside the well, and other chain wrapped around the forward deck bitts. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 55206.
CATSKILL 98k View in an officer's cabin, photographed by N.L. Stebbins, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1898. Note open deadlight scuttle in the overhead, wooden joinerwork, watertight door at left, lamp on the desk, and artwork behind the desk chair depicting a monitor at sea. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 55207.
CATSKILL 119k View of the Catskill's turret chamber, photographed by N.L. Stebbins, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1898. Note mechanism for lifting the turret so it can be rotated. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 55208.
CATSKILL 125k View in the Catskill's engine room, photographed by N.L. Stebbins, Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1898. Note decorations painted on some parts of the machinery. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 59444.
NAHANT 288k Nahant, Lehigh, Canonicus, Manhattan, Jason [ex-Sangamon],Catskill, Montauk & Mahopac lay tied up in rusting retirement, circa 1900. Photo courtesy of Tommy Trampp.
(NISMF)376kA guest studies a painting depicting the history of battleships. The artwork was painted by George Skybeck and presented to the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association during their annual banquet at Honolulu, Hawaii, on 8 December 1991. USN photo # DN-SC-92-05391, by PHC Carolyn Harris, from the Department of Defense Still Media Collection, courtesy of dodmedia.osd.mil.
USS CATSKILL History
View This Vessels DANFS History Entry
(Located On The Hazegray & Underway Web Site, This Is The Main Archive For The DANFS Online Project.)
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Not Applicable To This Ship
Additional Resources
Hazegray & Underway Battleship Pages By Andrew Toppan.
Monitor National Marine Santuary, NOAA.
Tour the Wreck of the Monitor.
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